Thailand
Fragrant herbs, bold heat and the perfect balance of sweet, sour and salty.
About Thai cuisine
Thai food makes more sense when you’ve eaten it where it comes from. Travelling through Thailand for work in the 1980s meant encountering the street food culture before it became something tourists sought out — small boats along the waterways selling and cooking their own food, each one its own kitchen, reaching out to offer whatever was on that day. The balance of sweet, sour, salty and heat wasn’t a concept, it was just what everything tasted like.
Bringing that home to a British kitchen takes a little understanding of why Thai food works — the fish sauce, the lime, the fresh herbs added at the end. Get those relationships right and the cuisine translates surprisingly well. The key is balance: no single flavour should dominate. A Thai dish should taste bright and complex, with each element — the heat, the sour lime, the saltiness of fish sauce, the sweet edge of palm sugar — pulling in the same direction.
Bangkok gave me one of my favourite food lessons, at the Khlong Lat Mayom floating market — smaller than the famous ones, and all the friendlier for it, with street food at every turn. It was there I first ate salt-crusted grilled fish, the way the Thais cook it as pla pao: the crust seals the fish as it grills, trapping the moisture, so what emerges from beneath that armour is astonishingly juicy. It opened my eyes to a whole new way of cooking fish — though I will let you into a secret: at home, it works even better in the oven.
Key ingredients
Stock these and you can cook Thai almost any night of the week.
LemongrassThe outer layers stripped, the tender heart bruised or finely sliced.
Kaffir lime leavesTorn into curries, finely shredded over salads — bright and floral.
Bird’s-eye chilliesSmall, fierce, used whole, sliced or pounded into pastes.
Fish sauceThe salt of Thai cooking — a few drops lift everything.
Coconut milkFull-fat tins — the thick cream cracks first to fry the curry paste.
Jasmine riceFragrant, slightly sticky — the cornerstone of nearly every meal.
Recipes from my kitchen
A handful of Thai recipes I cook on rotation. All tested in a real kitchen.
Pan Fried Halibut with Thai Crab Risotto
This dish of Roasted Halibut with Thai Crab Risotto is one of my favourites. The key to a great risotto is to ensure it is not too thick.
Salmon & Scallops with Ginger & Lemongrass Risotto
This dish of Salmon and Scallops with Ginger and Lemongrass Risotto is next level tasty! Fragrant, flavoursome, with a little kick.
Pork Meatballs with a Thai Curry Sauce
This quick and easy recipe made with pork mince balances four flavours – hot, sweet, salty and sour – for a perfect combination.
